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Supergirl #40 review

It's the final issue of the Crucible academy storyline and the final issue of Supergirl. And what a great close to the series it is - talk about bittersweet!

The story picks up with Superboy being primed to 'give birth' to 'clonelings' whom Crucible vice-principal/head nutter Korstus plans to use to force peace on the universe. Kara's not going to let it happen without a fight, though, and she's ready to take on his super-powered henchman Roho. She doesn't have to do it alone, though, as fellow students Comet, Maxima and Tsavo dive in to help out, along with head teacher Amata. The newcomers fight Roho, Korstus and some deadly drones while Kara uses knowledge of her powers she's gained at Crucible to safely extract Kon-El from the cloning equipment.

That sorted, there's another challenge - save Crucible from the self-destruct mechanism Korstus put in place should his clone plan be stopped. The students all want to stay and aid Kara, who figures she has the best change of surviving the blast which is coming to the chamber even as the rest of the school's protective mechanisms click in.

In the end, though, it's down to Kara and Kon, who save the day, survive, and say goodbye to their new friends as they return to Earth - Supergirl to pick up her new life, Superboy to make one.

And back in New York, Kara buckles down, becomes a pretty good barista and reassures proto-beau Michael that, yeah, she's up for a proper date. And then... a mini cliffhanger which I won't give away - lets just say something is growling at Kara - but it does reassure me that DC has immediate plans for Supergirl even as her series closes.

As with all the Crucible issues, Supergirl #40 is a masterclass in how to produce a vibrant, engrossing superhero comic. The characters and situations are clearly defined, there's forward movement in the stories and a pleasing mix of action and interaction. It's also a fine example of how to wind down a series, with the main storyline tied up neatly, the characters elegantly placed in intriguing new roles and plenty of promise for the star of the show.

Because as with the Red Lanterns storyline, Crucible has seen Kara grow, learning more about her powers, herself and how much she's beginning to feel Earth is her home. Given how appealing the latest version of Supergirl now is, I'm pretty sad that writers K Perkins and Mike Johnson, and artists Emanuela Lupacchino and Ray McCarthy won't be developing Kara and her world further right now. But I'm delighted they've wrapped things up so brilliantly, not only further defining Kara, but making her fellow students - Maxima especially - heroes I hope to see again soon.

I've praised the creative team plenty, and deservedly, for their work on earlier issues, but let's hear it one last time for the neat plotting and sharp narrative of Perkins and Johnson, and the entirely edible artwork of Lupacchino, McCarthy, colourist Hi-Fi and letterer Rob Leigh. Every page reads wonderfully and looks superb. There's loads going on but the book never looks cramped - heck, there's even room for a bit a background adorableness. Thanks guys.

My one, titchy quibble is how Lupacchino draws the S-symbol - at times I wondered if the art had been accidentally flipped at production stage, given that the emblem looks a tad Bizarro. But given the wonders Lupacchino has done for Kara's New 52 costume, taking away the creepy factor and making it look great, I'll take her overall version over anyone else's. I hope Lupacchino - indeed, all the creators - have regular work at DC again soon (just imagine what these guys could do with a Legion of Super-Heroes book...).

Supergirl #40 is a splendid end to a series that just got better by the month. The Supergirl we have here - thinking first, using her brain before her fists - is light years from the confused, tough-to-like kid who kicked off the book. She's gone from being a danger to herself and Earth to one of the planet's most trustworthy defenders. And the Kryptonian who would once have killed the clone Kon-El, whom she deemed an obscenity, is becoming like a sister to him. That's progress.

Comments

I hate that this book is ending. Kara was finally out of her doom and gloom faze and accepting her role as a hero on Earth and DC ends the book and breaks up an amazing creative team.

Being a Superboy fan, I loved seeing Kara and Conner finally work together as a team and family. I loved that Kara wouldn't let Conner sacrifice himself again. Too bad that all the great work this title has done to rehabilitate Superboy will be undone by Teen Titans. I may just have to ignore those issues and pretend they don't exist.

I really hope that when/if this title comes back we can get this creative team again. If not, then I hope whoever does take over won't ignore Comet, Tsavo, Maxima, Michael, and Siobhan. Kara has finally got a good supporting cast and I don't want to see it jettisoned to either line up with the TV show or just so a new writer can put their stamp on the book.

I agree with everything you say, I'm especially not looking forward to Kon being in Teen Titans of it's a case of send in the clones, yet again.

The fact that the creative team didn't have time to get to the leftover Siobhan/Blaze subplot is a real shame - unless someone tells me otherwise, I shall assume Silver Banshee kicks the latter's skinny demonic arse.

I also am going to assume that Silver Banshee beat the crap out of Blaze. It really is too bad we didn't see that plotline brought to fruition. It also feels like the Crucible story was meant to be longer than just five issues. It did feel like the writers wrapped everything up in a neat little bow with this issue, the final page excluded. Nothing wrong with that of course but I do wonder just what else this team would have done given enough time.-CJ

I'm pretty sure that early on Perkins and/or Johnson said in an interview that the opening arc was a certain number of issues but if things went down well, DC were open to more. Overtaken by corporate events, I guess.

Good news, though. That might not be the real Kon who is gonna show up in "Teen Titans". Will Pfeifer teased as much in an interview with Newsarama in January and if the Crucible Superboy clones survived, it could be one of them who is causing trouble in "Teen Titans". After all, they did mention Kon having other clones in "Superboy: Futures' End #1" and "Secret Origins #7".

That's certainly good news so far as the bad news of yet another 'Superboy is troubled' storyline is concerned - but as I was implying above, I'm really tired of DC being apparently unable to think of anything to do with Kon other than go back to the clone well.

I'm glad to hear it might not be the real Conner in TT but did we really need another evil clone Superboy? We had two Jon Lane Kents plus a bevy of alternate Superboys. I guess this could work if Pfeifer's intent is for this Superboy to be Match, the evil clone of Superboy from the 90s run. Seeing the cover for the newest issue of TT it does kind of look like Match. Still, I'd rather the good Superboy join the team and get past the clone issues.-CJ

When these five issues are collected, they will be the best example of "good Supergirl comic books" worthy of reccomending to new readers who are watching the TV series, as opposed to books where she's not in-character, or the artwork is odd, or the story is mired in endless crossovers. This brief run was solid.

That is one thing that this Supergirl series has had going for it. There have been a number of writers and artists and several different runs but it's remained fairly consistent. Siobahn has been there from the beginning and even when she isn't part of the plot she is usually mentioned. Veritas was a good recurring character until outside events took her away. The mystery surrounding Worldkiller-1 was brought back in by Bedard. No writer completely jettisoned what a previous writer had done. Perkins and Johnson pretty much picked up where Bedard had left off and even kept Kara's relationship with Michael intact. I hated to see Bedard go because his run was fantastic, but the follow-up was just as great.-CJ

It is a shame this run with Perkins/Johnson/Lupacchino/McCarthy is cut so short.Looking back, the last year has been the strongest for Supergirl since the New 52. From the redemption of Red Daughter to this last arc, Supergirl is finally at a place I want her to be.

So of course DC cancels it.

There was almost too much to love in this issue, from Kara saving Crucible to hearing how she inspires to her asking Michael for a date in a precious awkward way.

Interesting cliffhanger and the 'The End ... For Now!' at the end means something is up.

I wouldn't be surprised if they restart this series at number 1 around the time the Supergirl live TV show starts. Hopefully we'll have the same creative team they left us off with though, because this Crucible story arc has been great.

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